


Tools and History

by danceswchopstck



Series: To See and Understand [2]
Category: A Woman of the Iron People - Eleanor Arnason
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, Gen, Rare Fandoms, warning: unbeta'd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:49:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27619288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danceswchopstck/pseuds/danceswchopstck
Summary: Deragu has a lot to say about how the hairless people's tools got so complicated.That's fine with Anasu. He has a lot of questions.
Series: To See and Understand [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019307
Kudos: 1





	Tools and History

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Keeping It Simple](https://archiveofourown.org/works/322902) by [danceswchopstck](https://archiveofourown.org/users/danceswchopstck/pseuds/danceswchopstck). 



> As my profile says, story ideas come to me rarely. About 8.8 years after writing _Keeping It Simple,_ I suddenly had a starting place for this sequel. 
> 
> For context, please read the original story before you read this one, which doesn't attempt to stand alone.

"This is tiring," said Anasu, standing up from the _sawhorse_ and letting the _crosscut saw_ hang down from his hand. 

"Yes," said Deragu. "A saw like that is a fairly simple tool—it uses a lot of your strength. Many of our complicated tools started out as ideas about how to do things in less tiring ways."

"Hu," said Anasu. "I suppose that is reasonable. But how did you get from this knife with teeth to something like the bubble shelters?"

"With many, many small changes to the tools, over a long time," said Deragu. "The earliest stories of our people have only simple tools. Even if the oldest stories have been forgotten, we can tell that many generations lived simply, by the tools they left behind."

"Why would they leave tools behind?" asked Anasu.

"A tool might be badly broken", said Deragu, "or it might be left as a gift for the Trickster, or another powerful spirit. Or it might be dropped, if a single traveler met a dangerous animal or a crazy person and could not go back for it."

"Aiya!" exclaimed Anasu. "Do you have so many dangerous animals or crazy people that it is common to find dropped tools?"

"It is much more common to find broken tools," Deragu admitted. "Dangerous animals are very rare, now, but they were common long ago. As for craziness, I do not know if our people have more or less craziness than yours. From what I have seen and heard, I do not think there is much difference. People who kill out of craziness are not very common."

"Then I don't understand how your people find so many old tools," said Anasu. "Old things rot and rust and fall apart!"

Deragu made the gesture of agreement, but his body moved uneasily. "There is another way we find old tools," he said, "but I do not know if it is acceptable to speak much about people who are no longer alive."

Anasu made the gesture of confusion. He made it strongly. "You have been speaking of many generations. Do you have many generations all alive at once?"

Deragu continued to look uneasy. "I meant, some people think that the dead become spirits, and that it can be bad luck to attract the attention of a particular spirit, by saying their names, or touching tools that belonged to them, or finding their bones. I do not know what your people think about this. "

Anasu made the gesture of understanding, and considered it. "If I found the camp of a man who had died alone, tomorrow, I would tell Angai about it, and she would speak to the man's spirit, as a shamaness. But if it happened when I was a man...I think I would look at the dead man's tools. If my knife was broken and his was not, I might explain my situation and promise his spirit a fine gift, if I might take it."

He went on, "Then, if I could, I would camp for a night, some distance away, to see if his spirit would speak to me in a dream. I would probably not take the knife unless I had good or peaceful dreams." 

Deragu's body looked more relaxed, and he made the gesture of inquiry. "Probably?"

Anasu shrugged. "If I were in great danger, I might take the knife without waiting to dream, but I would certainly hunt for a Shamaness, later, and ask her to speak to the spirit for me."

Deragu made the gesture of satisfaction. "That is reasonable. It may sometimes be acceptable to touch the tools of the dead, or even their bones, if it is done with respect for their spirits. But what happens to the tools of a woman who dies in camp?"

Anasu replied, "If a woman dies unexpectedly, the Shamaness speaks to her spirit about what to do with her tools. If the woman is old and ill, she might give away most of her tools, before she died. It is likely that her tools would go to her apprentice or other relatives. Perhaps an especially fine tool would stay with her body. I do not know. That is the Shamaness' business. But I have seen women working with tools that once belonged to the old women who taught them, before they died. And they speak of those women. They just do it with respect."

Deragu made the gesture of gratitude. "This is good to know. People do not always agree about these things."

"Do your people often die alone, so that others find their tools unexpectedly?" Anasu asked.

"Not very often," said Deragu, "but many generations of our people buried the bodies of the dead along with their tools and other gifts. Some people hunt for the burial places of the dead, either to steal the buried tools and gifts for themselves, or to trade them to those who do not know their source, or to learn from them about what the long-ago people were like."

"They do not fear bad luck from the spirits of the dead?" Anasu asked.

Deragu let out a long breath.

"Usually, the people who fear do not search for burial places, unless they have great need of gifts to trade, or believe they will be protected by a more powerful spirit."

Deragu went on, _"I_ do not know if the spirits of the dead care about their tools or even their bones, but taking their tools and gifts seems disrespectful to me. I would rather learn from people who are alive. But when the tools and gifts have already been taken from the burial place, and can be seen from far away, using complicated tools, perhaps it is acceptable to learn about long-ago generations from them." 

Anasu thought about this. "Perhaps. But what do old, simple tools tell us about how people began to make and use complicated ones?"

Deragu made the gesture of apology. "My thoughts went to one side," he said. "I meant to tell how the earliest people had no tools at all, only their teeth and hands. They probably made their first tools from rocks and wood. They probably made their first clothing from the skins of animals. They made baskets from grasses and twigs. They learned to use and make fire; then they made pots. They learned how to take iron and copper from the earth, and make it into useful things. They learned to care for animals. Some people began to grow and breed food plants. Some people began to make cloth from other plants. All these things happened so many generations ago that the stories are lost—we don't know if the ideas for all these new things came as gifts from spirits, or from unexpected events, or from people trying one thing after another until something they tried was useful."

"It could have happened in all of those ways," said Anasu. "But what does this tell me about complicated tools? The things you are talking about are familiar, even if I am not a potter or a weaver or a smith, myself."

Deragu asked, "Do the Iron People ever eat food that is made from the dried-out seeds of grasses or trees? And perhaps the seeds are crushed between two rocks or two pieces of wood before they are cooked?"

"Yes, this is common," said Anasu.

"We think complicated tools started with people hunting for easier ways to crush the seeds. They found ways to make the flowing water of rivers turn one flat stone on top of another, to crush the seeds between the stones. The people still had to grow or find the seeds, and cook them after they were crushed, but the strength of the river did the crushing." 

Again, Anasu made the gesture of confusion. "How can a river crush seeds without washing them away?"

Deragu held his arms in a circle, like the outer part of a wagon wheel. "If I hang a wagon wheel above a river, with just a hand's width or so of the wheel in the water, the river pushes on the wheel and turns both the wheel and a level pole attached through its center. The push from the river turns the level pole." Deragu gestured to show the pole and the turning.

"There is a ring of teeth around the level pole called a _gear._ And there is a standing pole nearby, with its own ring of teeth, and that pole is attached to a flat stone that can turn, with another flat stone below it that does not turn." Deragu made gestures for all of this.

"The gear teeth on the level pole fit between the gear teeth on the standing pole. As the river turns the wheel and the level pole, that pole's gear teeth push on the standing pole's gear teeth, so that the direction of turning goes from around the level pole to around the standing pole. The seeds are crushed between the fixed stone, below, and the turning stone that is attached to the standing pole. Together, the wheel and poles and stones and gears are called a _mill._ " Deragu relaxed his arms.

Anasu said, "I have never heard of anything like this. Can you show me a mill?"

"I do not know if anyone here has the knowledge to build one," Deragu answered. "I have never made one, myself. The Angelinos, my people, went back to the old ways of crushing seeds, using their own strength to press the seeds between stones or pieces of wood. But I will try to find a way to show you."

Anasu made the gesture of gratitude. "So, the start of making complicated tools came from borrowing strength from rivers?"

"We think so. Later, people found ways to use the strength of rivers to cut wood for use, where gears changed the direction of the water's push to move a saw through a piece of wood, instead of turning a flat stone for crushing seeds."

"Ha!" said Anasu. "So, I am doing this the difficult way?"

Deragu said, "You are doing it in a way that a single person can carry from one place to another, without a long apprenticeship, and without wagons and bowhorns to carry the right kinds of wood and stone."

"That is true," Anasu admitted. 

"You will have to decide for yourself if saws are likely to be useful enough that the Iron People will want them," said Deragu.

Anasu made the gesture of doubt. "Maybe Angai should decide."

"The Shamaness? You know her better than any of us do, but she seemed wise."

"She _is_ wise," Anasu said. "What happened next, with tools getting more complicated?"

"People began to search for other ways to use the strength borrowed from rivers," Deragu said. "They used it to weave cloth more quickly. And they searched for other kinds of strength to borrow, because some people did not live near a good river for a mill. They found ways to get strength from fire, and wind, and sunshine. And they began to search for ways to store and move the strength from wherever they found it to wherever they wanted to use it."

"Did they find ways to store and move strength?" asked Anasu.

"They found ways," said Deragu. His voice sounded stern. "But some of the ways to store or use strength made poison flow into the air or the water, and some of the ways needed rare metals or liquids that people fought over."

 _"About time you mentioned that,"_ said a deep voice from behind Anasu. He turned, quickly, and saw that it was the man called Eddie. Hu! He looked big, even without the brightly colored vest and the strange eye-coverings he had worn when the hairless people visited the village.

Deragu made the gesture of greeting to Eddie, and Anasu quickly did the same. After a moment, Eddie returned the gesture. He did not show his teeth.

Deragu said, "This person is Anasu, the son of Nia and the foster-son of Angai, Shamaness of the Iron People. Anasu, this is Eddie Wind-that-circles, of the Five Lakes and Seven Fires Peoples, the Anishinaabe and the Oceti Sakowin." 

"I remember," said Eddie. He stared at Deragu. 

"Is this a confrontation?" asked Anasu, nervously. Deragu was still sitting, and Eddie had not come any closer, but it _felt_ like a confrontation.

"It's a warning," said Eddie. _"Sea Warrior, you're pushing it."_ Then he made a gesture Anasu didn't know: pointing two fingers towards his own eyes, then toward Deragu. After that, he turned and walked away.

Anasu quietly let out a breath. "What did he say?" he asked Deragu.

"Sea Warrior is part of my name," said Deragu. "What he said means that he is unhappy about me showing you saws and telling you about complicated tools, but he is not quite unhappy or angry enough to confront me." 

"What did the gesture mean?" asked Anasu, using his own fingers to make it.

"It means, 'I am watching you; do not make me angry," said Deragu. 

"That's a good gesture," said Anasu. "I will remember it."

Deragu didn't show any fear about what Eddie had said. He was also a big man, even if Eddie's body was bigger.

"What happens now?" asked Anasu, uneasily.

Deragu showed his teeth, but only a little. "You still have a saw in your hand," he said. "You tell me."

Anasu considered the piece of wood he had been cutting with the saw. "I want to be able to see and feel the surface I get from using this tool. If I finish cutting this wood, will Eddie be angrier?"

Deragu made the gesture that meant no. "He is not angry at you. He feels fear for your people, and old anger and sadness for his own people, and a little bit of new anger at me, because I am not doing what is expected. If you finish the cut, his feelings will not change." 

Anasu made the gesture of doubt. "How can you know this? He did not say what he felt."

Deragu's mouth widened, but his teeth did not show at all, this time. "Eddie and I have known each other a long time. He often says more. Did you hear, in the village, when I changed his words into the language of gifts?"

Anasu made the gesture that meant partly yes and partly no. "I heard only a little, that day. But afterwards, I heard Angai and my sister, Hua, talking about what a Shamaness does when other people do something unexpected. Eddie is the one who said our tools were weak."

Now, Deragu made the gesture for partly yes and partly no. "That is not exactly what he said. If the language of gifts has the words he used, I do not know them. I got as close as I could."

Alarmed, Anasu exclaimed, "Does Angai know that?"

Deragu considered it. "When Lixia was speaking for Mr. Fang, she said that the Iron People did not know the places or people he spoke about. Angai told Lixia to do her best to explain. So, I think it is likely that Angai understood that my words might not have exactly the same meaning as Eddie's. Does the language of the Iron People have ways to say things that cannot be said in the language of gifts?"

"Maybe some things about working with iron or what spirits do," Anasu answered. "We do not usually talk about those with travellers."

Deragu said, "Then this is likely to be something Angai is prepared for. And you can tell her, when you return. The important thing to know is that the tools of Eddie's people were strong, but not as strong as the tools of the people who traveled to his people's land and fought to stay. Many of his people died in the fighting, or from new illnesses that came with the travellers. Many of his people's stories and ways of living were lost, because the people with stronger tools did not like them, and they fought until those who had the knowledge were no longer able to teach. Eddie and I agree we do not want that to happen here. We disagree about what is wise and what is dangerous."

"Have you and Eddie ever fought?" Anasu asked.

"Not a serious fight, with our bodies," said Deragu. "We have sometimes spoken harshly to each other." He made the gesture that meant it didn't matter.

"If you _did_ fight, who would win?" Anasu persisted.

Deragu made the gesture of uncertainty. "He might be stronger. I might be faster. I might know more tricks. We are both very stubborn. Something unexpected might cause one of us to win and the other to lose."

"Have you never even _wrestled_ with each other?" Anasu exclaimed.

Deragu stood up and made his body long. He showed his teeth. "Eddie is heavier than I am, and has longer arms and legs. In wrestling, that would give him an advantage. I do what gives _me_ the advantage."

"Ha!" said Anasu. "If you and he had been born in our village, you likely would have wrestled as children, and you would already know where he is stronger and where you are."

"I know some of that," said Deragu, "even without wrestling. He is better at doing what is expected. I am better at doing what is _un_ expected."

Anasu thought about that. "Is teaching me about saws and complicated tools a way of fighting with him?"

For a moment, Deragu held his body very still. Then he said, "No, I am not doing this to fight with Eddie. But he might think that I am."

"Aiya!" Anasu sighed. "If you were women, Angai would tell you to take him a jar of beer to share, while you talk about it."

"We are not women," said Deragu, "but I will consider doing this." He made the gesture of gratitude.

Anasu bent over the sawhorse and placed the saw in the unfinished cut. Almost to himself, he said, "All of this is strange and unexpected. Even ordinary things become strange..."

Quietly, Deragu said, "All travellers bring strangeness with them, and find strangeness on their journey."

"I am learning that," said Anasu, and he went back to cutting the wood with the saw.


End file.
